Superfund program: National oil and hazardous substances contingency plan— National priorities list update,

[Federal Register: May 27, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 101)]

[Proposed Rules]

[Page 28961-28963]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr27my98-17]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6102-3]

National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan; National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Novaco Industries Superfund site from the National Priorities List; request for comments.

SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 announces its intent to delete the Novaco Industries Site from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this proposed action. The NPL constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR part 300 which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), which EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. EPA and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) have determined that the Site no longer poses a significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before June 26, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Russell D. Hart, U.S. EPA Region 5, Superfund Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Mail Stop: SR-6J, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the administrative record which is available for viewing at the following locations:

U.S. EPA Records Center--Seventh Floor, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Bedford Township Hall and Monroe County Library--Bedford Branch, Bedford, Michigan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Russell D. Hart, U.S. EPA Region 5, Superfund Division, SR-6J Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886-4844.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

1. Introduction II. NPL Deletion Criteria III. Deletion Procedures IV. Basis of Intended Site Deletion

1. Introduction

   EPA Region 5 announces its intent to delete the Novaco Industries Site location in Temperance, Michigan from the NPL, Appendix B of the NCP, 40 CFR part 300, and requests comments on this deletion. EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant risk to public health, welfare, or the environment and maintains the NPL as the list of these sites. As described in section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible for remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site warrant such action.

   EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site for thirty days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.

   Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting sites from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that EPA is using for this action. Section IV discusses the Novaco Industries Site and explains how the Site meets the deletion criteria.

2. NPL Deletion Criteria

   Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that releases may be deleted from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making a determination to delete a release from the NPL, EPA shall consider, in consultation with the State, whether any of the following criteria have been met:

   (i) Responsible parties or other parties have implemented all appropriate response actions required;

   (ii) All appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented, and no further action by responsible parties is appropriate; or

   (iii) The remedial investigation has shown that the release poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore, taking of remedial measures is not appropriate.

   Even if a site is deleted from the NPL, where hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remain at the site above levels that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, EPA's policy is that a subsequent review of the site will be conducted at least every five years after the initiation of the remedial action at the site to ensure that the site remains protective of public health and the environment. In the case of this Site, the selected remedy is protective of human health and the environment. The five year groundwater monitoring program required by the 1991 Record of Decision (ROD) Amendment has indicated that no hazardous substances or contaminants remain on site above

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   levels that allow for unlimited use or exposure. Therefore no five year review of this remedy is required. If new information becomes available which indicates a need for further action, EPA may initiate remedial actions. Whenever there is a significant release from a site deleted from the NPL, the site may be restored to the NPL without the application of the Hazardous Ranking System.

3. Deletion Procedures

   The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of this Site: (1) EPA Region 5 issued a ROD in 1986 which called for groundwater extraction, on-site treatment of chromium contaminated groundwater, and discharge to Indian Creek; (2) EPA Region 5 amended the ROD in 1991 by requiring only additional monitoring well installation and a five year monitoring program to verify that no unacceptable levels of contaminants from the site remain in the groundwater; (3) based on the findings of that five year monitoring program the EPA Region 5 determined that no further response is appropriate for this site since during the monitoring program no exceedances occurred of either hexavalent chromium or total chromium drinking water Maximum Contaminant Limit (MCL) of 50 ug/l as established by the Safe Drinking Water Act; (4) MDEQ concurrence concerning Novaco Industries Site deletion was sought and obtained; (5) a notice has been published in the local newspaper and has been distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and other interested parties announcing the commencement of a 30-day public comment period on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and (6) all relevant documents, including a tabulation summary of all 1993-1997 sampling results have been made available for public review in the local Site information repositories.

   Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management. As mentioned in section II of this document, section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP states that the deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for future response actions.

   For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional office will accept and evaluate public comments on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before making a final decision to delete. If necessary, the Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to address any significant public comments received.

   A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect deletions in the final update following the document.

   Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness summary will be made available to local residents by the Regional office.

4. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

   The following site summary provides the Agency's rational for the proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.

   1. Site Background

      The Novaco Industries site is located at 9411 Summerfield Road, at the intersection of Summerfield and Piehl in Temperance, Michigan. The site lies approximately 50 miles south of Detroit and 5 miles north of Toledo. The facility occupies a 2.6 acre parcel. The Novaco study area consists of Novaco Industries, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post #9656, and nearby residences having water supply wells screened within the sand/gravel aquifer or limestone aquifer which could be affected by the Novaco site.

   2. History

      The Novaco Industries site formerly performed tool and die manufacturing and repair. Approximately 85 residences and businesses are located within a half-mile of the site. Around 1979, a buried tank of chromic acid, used for plating purposes, developed a leak and an unknown quantity of acid leaked into the surrounding soils. By the early 1980s, chromium was detected at concentrations above both federal and state drinking water standards, in three water supply wells at Novaco Industries, the nearby VFW Post, and the Moyer's residence and one observation well. Novaco replaced the three water supply wells and extracted and treated contaminated groundwater in 1979. Following winter shutdown of the groundwater purge and treat system, Novaco never resumed its operation and declared bankruptcy.

      The Novaco site was subsequently placed on the NPL in September 1983. While Novaco's short-term remedial operation did succeed in removing substantial amounts of contamination (approximately 400 pounds of hexavalent chromium), the remaining contamination continued to migrate. The Remedial Investigation (RI), performed by the EPA, identified a small area of contaminated groundwater with concentrations of chromium that exceeded relevant cleanup criteria. Based on these studies the EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on June 27, 1986, which required the installation of a groundwater purge and on-site treatment system to remove the remaining contamination.

      Design investigations conducted during spring 1988, determined that the previously defined nature and extent of groundwater contamination no longer held true at Novaco. Additional investigations were performed in the spring of 1989. Based on those studies, which indicated the concentrations of chromium contamination no longer exceeded relevant cleanup criteria, the EPA proposed to amend the existing ROD to a ``no action ROD'' with groundwater monitoring for five years and if the chromium concentrations remained below the cleanup criteria no further action would be warranted. The state concurred with this amended ROD. The EPA issued the amended ROD in September 1991. The groundwater monitoring network established during the RI was further developed and sampling for the five year program began in February 1993. During the first year samples were collected quarterly. Since the results of that sampling indicated all samples were below the detection limits stated in the quality assurance project plan the frequency of sampling was reduced to semi-annually. The five year program has been completed and indicated there are no chromium concentrations above relevant cleanup criteria. Therefore no further remedial action is needed.

      EPA periodically sent summaries of analytical results to concerned residents.

      EPA's ARCS contractor has completed the task of dismantling the groundwater monitoring network in accordance with procedures established by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. This work was accomplished in December 1997, and was in part overseen in the field by MDEQ representatives.

   3. Characterization of Risk

      Confirmational monitoring of groundwater conducted from 1993-1997 demonstrated that no significant risk to public health or the environment is posed by residual materials remaining at the Site. EPA and MDEQ believe that conditions at the site do not now pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.

      One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may delete a site from the NPL if ``all appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented, and no further action by responsible parties is appropriate.''

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      EPA, with the concurrence of MDEQ, believes that this criterion for deletion has been met. Subsequently, EPA is proposing deletion of this Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action are available from the docket.

      Dated: May 14, 1998. David Ullrich, Acting Regional Administrator, Region V.

      [FR Doc. 98-13853Filed5-26-98; 8:45 am]

      BILLING CODE 6560-50-P